Cooking (Chapter 7, Story 1)

"Will you look at the time?" Karen huffed, glancing at her watch. "I'm late. You'd better get in there and watch those kids now. Don't forget to give them dinner." With that, Karen turned on her heels and walked back down the corridor. Kella sighed and entered the apartment. Usually, her siblings used any time that their mother wasn't home to wreck the house, but today the apartment was in relatively good condition. "Hey everybody," Kella greeted them. The little kids smiled and waved, and Michelle went into the kitchen to help Kella. Kella went into the kitchen herself and began to pull food items from the shelves on the wall. There were some spaghetti noodles, a can of tomato sauce, and some canned green beans. Michelle pulled out two pots and she and Kella began dumping the canned items into them. "How was the doctor?" Michelle asked. "Okay, I guess. He was really nosey," Kella replied. "That's his job," Michelle reminded her. "I guess." "The debt collector came by again." "Oh yeah?" Michelle nodded, stirring the green beans. "He said something about jail this time. Of course, I couldn't hear much of what he said, since Mom always makes us go in the back when he comes." "Don't worry, Michelle. Everything is going to fine. Mom will get a job, and she'll be able to pay off the debt." Michelle shrugged. "Kella," she said quietly, "you don't have to lie to me. I'm not a little kid anymore. I understand what's going on. It does scare me sometimes, but I'd rather know the truth." Kella didn't say anything. She knew treated Michelle like a baby, even though there was only a two year difference in their ages. There was a loud crash followed instantly by the wail of a small child. "Laura's crying. I'll go see what happened," said Michelle.